Peter Moskos is an associate professor in the Department of Law and Police Science at John Jay College of Criminal Justice and the City University of New York's Doctoral Program in Sociology. He also teaches at LaGuardia Community College in Queens.

Moskos is a Harvard and Princeton trained sociologist and former police officer. He focuses on police culture, crime prevention, qualitative methods, and ending the war on drugs.

His first book, Cop in the Hood, won the 2008 American Publishers Award for Professional and Scholarly Excellence, Best Book in Sociology. His second book, In Defense of Flogging, is a subversive attack on the prison-industrial complex. It was listed as a "Favorite Book of the Year" by Mother Jones and earned Moskos recognition as one of Atlantic Magazine's "Brave Thinkers of 2011."

Along with books and academic journal publications, Moskos reaches policy makers and the broader public through publications in The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, Baltimore Sun, American Interest, U.S. News & World Report, The Chronicle of Higher Education, Washington Monthly, Macleans, Slate, the Daily Caller, and his blog, Copinthehood.com.

Moskos was born in Chicago, went to public schools in Evanston, Illinois, and lives in Astoria, Queens.

Feel free to read a free sample from Cop in the Hood or In Defense of Flogging.